Fenner Dunlop will be creating many Australian jobs when it opens its $65m steel cord conveyor belt production facility in Perth, the company said.

“We are taking on staff for the new plant in Perth and also looking to fill an even larger number of sales and field services vacancies for installation and maintenance, mostly in Western Australia,” Fenner Dunlop’s executive director David Landgren said.Ground for the new manufacturing facility was broken at Kwinana Beach in May 2008, with the plant’s formal opening coming in June this year.

With an initial capacity of 330,000 square metres, the plant will produce steel cord belt and rubber ply belt up to 3200mm wide.

According to Landgren, Fenner Dunlop always wanted to build the plant in Australia in order to help both its customers and local industry.

“We could have built this facility in China or India,” he said.

“Our decision to manufacture in Australia was based on our commitment to quality and the total cost of the belts to our customers.”